Retirement Fund.

A change has occurred and municipal courts have been told to start collecting money for the Sheriff’s Retirement fund. Over the past several years, there has been a battle over whether or not municipal courts are required to collect court cost for the Sheriff’s Retirement Pension. The issue first arose when the Attorney General’s office wrote a legal opinion that municipal courts should collect this cost. This particular court cost would appear to be a violation of the Hancock Amendment and the access to the courts clause in the Missouri Constitution. Municipal courts will start collecting the additional $3 per case charge at the end of August 2013. There are some efforts underway to file a challenge to the charge in court. InHarrison v. Monroe County, 716 S.W.2d 263 (Mo banc 1986, the Missouri Supreme Court held that an assessment imposed on civil cases to pay for additional compensation for county officials violated the access to the courts provision of the Missouri Constitution.